That last sentence is mostly sarcasm, and I respect everyone's individual decision to do what they want, but I need both. I feel that's the best route to a well rounded, and healthy diet is finding the right balance between meat and veggies and fruits. I love veggies a lot, peppers, onions, zuchinni, carrots, mmmmm, but I gotta have my meat too.

The idea that we're "supposed to eat meats and veggies" isn't entirely accurate, really (I know you're being somewhat facetious - I just get this from people a lot). Given our understanding of human nutrition and dietary needs, it's simple to more than give your body what it needs without consuming meat.

We need meats and veggies when we're hunter gatherers living on plains and in caves. But our bodies (particularly our teeth) have already started to adapt to a less meat-heavy diet because it's just not nearly as necessary as it was thousands of years ago.

We're omnivores in a basic evolutionary sense. But there's no need to consume meat anymore. And given what meat does to your body, it's a really bad idea to do so more than just occasionally.

I agree with TJ basically. I couldn't live without animals in my belly. I grew up on a farm and we raised pretty much everything at one point or another. Unintentionally organic for the most part... little farm, lots of love, so I am BIG into treating animals with dignity and respect and not taking them and their sacrifice for granted.

It can easily sound cruel when you get into this kind of thing, talking about how you need those extra slices of bacon on your sandwich just for the flavor, and knowing that if you didn't add bacon a life, or had you never EVER eaten bacon, many pigs lives would've been saved. Present day (civilized) humans only kill for the pleasure of their taste buds.

I've come to terms with that. I'm okay with it. Nature created the circle of life. We are a part of that.

Consider this argument... if NOBODY ate beef we would have no reasons to breed or domesticate cows. What would happen to them as a species? We couldn't just let herd of cattle run free, no one would pay to see them in a petting zoo. For a very long time they'd simply be dieing out. Until acceptable numbers stabilized and they could be put of some "Reserve" in Montana.

Now I'm not saying slaughtering them and eating them by the millions is a better alternative but I just wonder about these things. What do the hippies THINK will happen to cows?

NOW, back to seitan. As I said before it is a meat substitute so don't expect much as far as flavor and texture go but it is nutritious, filling, versatile, cheap (if made in bulk), and easily accessible. You can also add texture, like cooked rice, oats, flax seeds, or sesame seeds. Add vitamins or whey to the mixture if you are concerned about your protein intake or Omega 3's or any other bullshit that family and friends will try to tell you you "Aren't getting enough of as a vegetarian". And if they are truly concerned tell them to put their money where their mouth is and buy you some supplements which you can add into your diet, via seitan or pill form. That or STFU about YOUR life. Moving on...

Comfort food Seitan is awesome. I openly tell my girlfriend that I'm going to make her vegan food as unhealthy and as Comfort-foody as possible. I'll take seitan, tempeh, or tofu: bread them with a personal blend and pan fry them to make tenderloin fritters for sandwiches or for use as a "Country Fried steak"... Mmmm...

Country fried steak as described as above.Mashed Potatoes (from scratch of course) - use unsweetened soymilk and vegan butter for those who don't use animal productsWhite Pepper Gravy - use unsweet soymilk, flour, pepper, and butter.Corn on the cob.

Using the same logic as a paragraph above, the circle of life would dictate what happens. Cows have no evolutionary function beyond being in our bellies. There are no natural predators (that have some use for population control) that rely on the existence of cows for survival.

You're equating being a vegetarian with being an illogical hipster to a degree. I don't believe that's fair. I'm all for cows dying out. They do nothing but give us colon cancer, heart disease and dangerous amounts of methane gas.

I'm going to try some of your recipes in August. They sound interesting and challenging. Thanks for posting that stuff.

Yes, I've made the cow argument 1000's of times to some of the more delusional veggie heads I've met.

Honestly, you guys all seem well grounded and like you have thought out the decision to go the route you have taken so I respect that. You also have to understand that I'm VERY VERY jaded right now when it comes to being a vegan or a vegitarian. I just got out of IU in Bloomington where just about every numbnuts you ran into was like, "DUDE, you totally shouldn't eat meat, that's like mean to the animals and stuff."

College kids piss me off. Taking meat and dairy products out of your diet has become a staple of people my age (20-23 I guess) of expressing that they are "hip" or "aware", and it's just irritating. By the time most of them hit 30, they'll be stuffing their faces with McDonald's cheeseburgers while their whining fucking kids annoy the hell out of me in a movie theatre.

Fuck YOU person who is only a vegan or vegitarian so you can seem more hip. BURN IN HELL.

That being said one of the favorite things I made this year was with one of my roommates and his GF. We got some kabobs and veggies and chicken, and made only a few kabobs with chicken on them, and the rest was just a crazy amount of veggies. All kinds of peppers (red, yellow, green), onions, mushrooms, zuchinni, I feel like we threw something else on there, but I can't remember. Grilled em up. They were delicious.

We also made a mean grilled pizza that was mostly veggies (just a little pepperoni), but I could easily cut meat out of most of my diet. I just don't feel like it impacts my particular health enough right now for me to do that. I do try to steer clear of fast food, and other areas where I think the meat is prepared poorly, but I love grilling my own steaks. I'm pretty good at it too from what I've been told, and I also make a mean hamburger mix.

Trader Joe wrote:College kids piss me off. Taking meat and dairy products out of your diet has become a staple of people my age (20-23 I guess) of expressing that they are "hip" or "aware", and it's just irritating.

What do you mean by hip or aware? If committing to vegetarianism is widely being framed and accepted as "hip" or "aware" amongst the college crowd, then why is it being framed like that in the first place?

If what you are saying is that people are solely making this life decision as a way to construct their own identity as "hip" or "aware" without being introspective of the choice...then I could understand being irritated by that person's lack of a critical perspective. It would seem quite ironic for a person to be making the "aware" choice without being "aware" of why they're doing so in the first place. However, if they understand that vegetarianism, at some level, is being framed as "aware" by their peers - and this is something they wish to strive towards being - is that not some form of awareness? It would demonstrate at the very least a desire on the person's behalf to act/live according to principles of what constitutes as 'right'. They may not be able to articulate sound reasoning or perfectly structured arguments, but if they genuinely wish to make the 'right' choice - then over time, they may become more comfortable with their justifications. Perhaps at this stage, it is nothing more than a gut feeling that drives the person to doing what is right. I'm not sure.

I just don't think we should chastise people for wanting to live their life according to a higher standard of morals - even if they're unsure of exactly what those are at this stage in their life. 20-23 years of age is still young...people are generally trying to figure out who they are as a person and it is through these experiences that they will do so.

Now, if what you are saying is that being "aware" and being "hip" are framed by the college crowd as interchangeable terms, then that would complicate things. Because these people who cite little more than "moral awareness" could actually be saying "a desire to be seen as 'hip'" by their peers. In which case, it would seem as though some moral substantiation would help their cause, if what you're saying is true. But, I feel somewhat distanced from university culture altogether these days. From what I can gather, moral awareness and hipness do not seem to be universally linked across the campus. Aren't most of these guys still downloading movies illegally, objectifying women to the hilt, etc.? For these people, striving to act with some moral accordance to their lives does not seem to phase them in their pursuit to be cool. Unless 'hipness' is but one (albeit different) form of coolness?